Bai and Liu compete for spring weirdness

Liu Yuxi undercuts delicate emotion with bathos

A Spring Song, Following Bai Juyi
Liu Yuxi

face perfect 
decked out 
from her milady apartment
into dismal spring lighting
the inner cloister
she walks and counts 
the flowers
and dragonflies 
land on her jade bobby pin

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This poem paints a picture of the subtle oppression of being locked away in the women’s quarters, even during spring, the season of new life. The balance of beauty and sadness is surprisingly interrupted by a humorous bit of jewellery, leaving the poem hard to interpret. The answer lies in the similarly innovative and surprising poem by Bai Juyi that Liu was seeking to copy. Bai suddenly turns the register of his poem around in the middle of the third line, and Liu wanted to try out a similar whiplash change of tone.

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刘禹锡  和乐天春词

新妆宜面下朱楼，深锁春光一院愁。

行到中庭数花朵，蜻蜓飞上玉搔头。